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The excerpt represents the core issue or deciding factor on which you must meditate, and is drawn from Aeroplanes and Dirigibles of War by Frederick A. Talbot: easy matter when the aircraft is moving rapidly and irregularly,
but reliance is placed thereon in the hope that the machine may
happen to be within the cone of dispersion when the shell bursts,
and that one or more of the pieces of projectile and bullets may
chance to penetrate either the body of the airman or a vital part
of the mechanism.
It is this uncertainty which has led to a preference for a direct
missile such as the bullet discharged from a machine gun. A
stream of missiles, even of rifle calibre, maintained at the rate
of some 400 shots per minute is certain to be more effective,
provided range and aim are correct, than shrapnel. But the
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